Recording Covered Calls in Quicken Mac

ChocolateLabMan

How do I record a covered call w Quicken Mac? I am interested in knowing the initial transaction (selling the call option against shares that I already own) and then how to record the following circumstances:

• closing that call (Buy to Cover?)
• recording what happens if the option expires out of the money
• recording what happens if the option gets excercised/assigned

Thanks!

Quicken Kristina

Hello @ChocolateLabMan,

Thank you for reaching out! How did you record the initial option? Did you record it as a Sell transaction in your Quicken?

Buy to Cover is intended to close out a short position, which isn't quite the same as closing a call.

Since Quicken for Mac doesn't really have any dedicated transaction types for options, and doesn't have any help articles on how to document options, you would probably want to use a Buy transaction to record the cost as an expense and close out the call.

If the call expires, a Buy transaction for the cost of $0 should work to close it out.

If the option does get exercised/assigned, then probably a Sell transaction for the stock and a Buy transaction for the underlying call at $0 should work to document it.

I hope this helps!